I apologize for the delay in getting this report out to the lists.  Carole Bell

                ALA ACLTS OUT-OF-PRINT AND GIFTS & EXCHANGE
                      DISCUSSION GROUPS JOINT MEETING
                           FEBRUARY 6, 1995

1. Announcements:
-Books on Demand is now available on CD Rom for about $99 per year.
-The new Gifts & Exchange Listserve will begin soon.  Carole will send out
message to  ACQNET, Serialst, and Colldv-l
-The topic for the next G&E disscussion group will be tax laws.  If anyone
knows of a librarian or anyone else who would be a good speaker for this
topic, please contact Carole Bell.

2. Discussion:  How bookdealers can help librarians with Gifts and OP:

        The topic for discussion at this meeting was how bookdealers can
help librarians acquire out-of-print materials for libraries and increase
library revenue by purchasing unwanted items.  The two speakers were Mr.
George R. Allen of William H. Allen, Bookseller, Philadelphia and Mr.
Samuel J. Hough of The Owl at the Bridge, Cranston, Rhode Island.

        Mr. Hough began the discussion by expressing the view that
libraries are a great source of inexpensive stock for bookdealers.  Many
low-priced items can be found for re-sale among the gifts that libraries
wish to dispose of because they duplicate their current holdings or do not
fit their collection profile.  Both Messrs. Hough and Allen agreed that
it is very unusual to find a rare or valuable book among these items as they
have usually been reviewed beforehand by selectors.  But if one were
found, both would advise the library of its potential worth rather than
merely buy it at below market price for a more profitable re-sale.

        From attending these numerous book sales, Mr. Hough believes that
libraries sell their duplicates too cheaply and could make more money
by employing the expertise of bookdealers.  Besides being
customers at these sales, bookdealers can further assist by disposing of
large lots of unneeded books.   Mr. Hough illustrated this point by
relating his experience of helping a university library sell a rather
sizable quantity of books that could not be used.  At the library's request,
Mr. Hough marketed this collection to various customers and was able to
garner the amount the library was hoping for.  This saved the library a
significant amount of staff time in preparing the donation for sale and
resulted in a beneficial infusion of money into their budget.

        Mr. Hough felt that libraries should make use of the bookdealer's
knowledge of local, national, and overseas markets for selling unwanted
gifts as another source of revenue.  They can take the burden of
selling off libraries through their knowledge of demand and pricing
variations which exist in those markets.  Bookdealers in turn would
benefit from the commission or profit over the agreed upon selling price.

        Some group members raised the tangential issue that library
collection withdrawals, unlike gifts, cannot be sold at all.  They have
been purchased with state monies and are regarded as state property.  In
those cases, libraries have offered the de-accessioned items to other
institutions for use.

        In regards to out-of-print searching, Mr. Allen does not actively
search but keeps a record of catalog items that were requested after being
sold.  5% to 10% of his sales are for such items found.  Mr. Hough does
circulate lists of desiderata in addition to visiting bookshops.
However, he has found that these lists have proven to be rather an
unsuccessful means of locating o.p. material.

        Discussion then ensued about the various methods used by members
of the Group to search for their desiderata.  A few sent purchase orders
to vendors with the request to search if the item was found to be
out-of-print.  A couple of libraries had selectors who chose from o.p.
bookdealer catalogs.  (Mr. Allen noted that he mails anywhere from 2,000
to 4,000 catalogs and receives 500 to 600 responses.  Of those, around
10-15% are from libraries.)  University of North Florida is also sending
desiderata lists to Strand Book Store in New York City because it has
proven a somewhat successful method due to its large o.p. stock.  Auburn
University advertises in the free, semi-monthly publication LIBRARY
BOOKSELLER and has a 10-15% success rate.  They also employ the
"shotgun" approach of sending search requests to specialist dealers with
varying degrees of success.

        Though no definitive consensus was reached on how to most
fruitfully do out-of-print searching, the members of the group received
useful insight into how specialists in the used book trade can successfully
assist libraries in augmenting their budgets, if not their collections.
The various aspects of pricing, marketing, and searching which Messrs.
Allen and Hough spoke on elicited an interesting and informative
discussion in the group.

Submitted:

Marilyn Ng, Chair, OP Discussion Group
Acquisition Dept. Doe Library
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
mng@library.berkeley.edu

Carole R. Bell, Chair Gifts & Exchange Discussion Group
Serials & Acquisitions Services
Northwestern University Library
1935 Sheridan Rd.
Evanston, IL 60208-2300
crbell@nwu.edu